Tulipmania

The Dutch tulip bulb market bubble, was one of the most famous market bubbles and crashes of all time. It occurred in Holland (but its effect were keenly felt across much of Northern Europe) during the early 1600s when speculation drove the value of tulip bulbs to extremes. At the height of the market, the rarest tulip bulbs traded for as much as six times the average person's annual salary. 

Tulips were first imported into Western Europe in the late 1500's, by the Dutch East India Company Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; VOC, being an import from their native Turkey, they commanded the same exoticism that spices and oriental rugs did. It looked like no other flower native to Northern Europe.


I was reminded of this by one of many seen on this morning's walk. All because it takes about 7 years to grow a tulip from seed or 12 months if you split the blub